Windy Shades Of Gray
by WeWriteSinsAndTragedies
Summary: Dave Strider has liked his best friend John for a long time, and now that they have some time together, it's time to make a move. An "in progress" story that will eventually feature more characters, love triangles and probably smut. Please leave feedback as this is a continuing fic.
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Dave Strider was a handsome male aged 19, your typical cool kid, who was above average height of 6 foot 2. Dave always wore shades, no matter the weather it was for 'ironic purposes' when really Dave had beautiful red eyes he was ashamed of, thinking he was a freak he would cover them up, Dave had blonde hair that swept across his forehead to the side, nothing too special, just was easy to manage/style. He was well built as he worked out a lot, although if you saw what he ate, you wouldn't believe how good his body was in shape, but Dave had to be in shape and have a body of a god because he was an underwear model, he was near enough famous for his front cover modeling, but Dave never acted famous, he took his work very seriously but never let it get the good of him, always sticking with his best bros and hanging out like a normal teenager.

Dave lived in an apartment with his older Bro, Bro was an 'I'm hip' kind of guardian with his pointy anime shades and a button up shirt, the collar always sticking up his neck.

Dave's best bro (as in friend) was called John Egbert, John Egbert was kind of the complete opposite of Dave, he was very dorky (in a cute way) and had jet black messy hair hair, he was small compared to Dave (he was 5 foot 8) he was 17, a very lanky male who mostly stayed in all day playing videos games and pulling pranks, he had a part time job a the DVD store, it consists on stacking DVDs in alphabetical order, his preferred job would be a gaming youtuber, even though his gaming skills were not the best. John and Dave had been friends since high school, dave being older, he would always help John out when it came to school, because John was very intelligent and dorky, he was an easy target for bullies, but it all stopped after Dave got involved. That's how the two met when John was being picked on by one of the bullies, Dave had no clue who John was but still stepped in to help him out, ever since then they just kept getting closer and closer.

John lay down on his best friend's lap, controller in hand getting angry at losing the game to Dave.

"Dave you're cheating!"

"No I'm not, just because you can't win, you're just a sore loser" Dave grinned and stuck his tongue out.

"Uh!" he retorted "Am not! I just can't stand to see someone using hacks to win!"

"Like i said before Egbert, no hacks just talent!"

"Talent my ass!"

The boys went back to playing the "hacked" game on a bootleg console. Dave did own actual consoles like his PS4, but he knew John would rage quit and damage it somehow. It was also just the pinnacle of irony, to use this "Okama Gamesphere" instead.

Their round of "Immortal Kombat" finished, with Dave earning 4130 points, and John a measly 69. Dave could tell that John wasn't in the best of mods at this point. John was always the one to suggest a round of hardcore gaming, but every time the results were the same; Dave on top and John at the very bottom of the leaderboard.

Dave nudged John as their scores were shown.

"That's no surprise! Now you gotta do the forfeit."

He sighed suspiciously, "What did you have in mind?"

Dave looked around the room. There was a list as long as his dick of what he would want John to do as forfeit, However, none of them seemed particularly appropriate for now. His eyes wandered over to the window, where a nice, plush, rump was staring him in the eyes.

"Hey, John… I want you to make out with that smuppet over there!"

"What?!" John glared over the smuppet. "The thing your bro fucks every night then puts it on the web? No thank you!"

"Hey you lost the game, you gotta do the forfeit." Dave walked over and grabbed the smuppet, throwing it over to John. "you two make a perfect couple"

John was about to argue, when he realised that by making a fuss, he wasn't going to do anything except look like a complete baby. He was met with a red ass to the face, and saw dave hovering expectantly.

"You sick man Dave…" He muttered grasping the plushie in his hands. Did Dave's Bro actually fuck this one? And did he clean it? John felt vomit rising in his throat by thinking about the whole scenario.

"What are you waiting for? Just make out with it, then it'll be over!"

"Well sorry i'm not exactly prepared, mentally to make out with a pornstar!" He grimaced and pulled the smuppet to his face, the long phallus nose hovering just above his own. "Does your Bro actually fuck these? I need to know, I don't want to get AIDS or something!"

"Hey, Bro doesn't have AIDS you need to fuck someone to get that… Not something, like that smuppet, that one's his favourite." Dave gave his signature Strider grin and sat down next to John

"You're kidding me right…" There was exactly a 50% chance he was, and John was not comfortable with the situation. He sucked up his pride, and pressed his lips against the coarse fabric. Thoughts of Dirk's intimacy with the puppet flooded his mind, and he pulled away almost instantly.

"Wow John, if you call that a real kiss, i don't wanna be your boyfriend." He facepalmed as he said this, clearly disappointed with the display.

"I don't want you to be my boyfriend, i'm not gay! And how wasn't that a proper kiss? The thing doesn't even have lips!" John threw the smuppet back at Dave. "Take it away from me!"

Dave snached up the Smuppet, with unexpected seriousnes, an almost angry tone to his movements. He towered over the sitting Egbert, his face completely emotionless. John was actually scared by his friend's sudden change in demeanor, an angry Strider was not a force to be reckoned with.

"John, this is a real kiss." Dave suddenly grabbed the other boy's face and locked lips with him. It was too late for John, he had taken too long to realise what Dave was planning, and as consequence, he was now making out with him.

"Dave, i'm not a homosexual!" He screamed into dave's mouth, filling it with air and making the most awkward face you could imagine. Dave was forced to pull away, at the risk of being bitten.

"Dave what the fuck!" John shouted,his face dead serious, but his cheeks gave him away. They were blushing brightly, and he was obviously very flustered. "You going to explain?!" He yelled, threatening to alert the neighbors.

The entire time, Dave's face was curled into a smirk, pretty pleased with himself. He was oh so tempted to lean over and kiss him again, but he valued his tongue, and would rather keep it in one piece. "You gonna explain the 'no homo' but have gay porn on your laptop? I saw that! Plus look at your face, you're so red!"

"Dave i told you already! I clicked on a link by accident!"

"You can't save videos by accident John!" Dave retorted, that shit eating grin plastered all across his face. He knew this was a sore subject for john, but he had it coming. Who on earth saves their porn in a folder named "Nothing Interesting", it would have been less obvious if he'd named it "Hardcore Guys Fucking".

"Will you forgive me if I give you food?"

"You are such an asshole Dave!" He was clearly annoyed, but the promise of food was admittedly tempting, even if it did come from a smuppet filled fridge. "I'll take the food though."

"That's what I like to hear." Grinned Dave, pleased that he had gotten away with kissing him; even if it was only for a second. "Want a drink first?" He enquired, striding off into the kitchen. He opened the door to inspect the choices. "We have a shit ton of AJ, Pepsi and some Cola."

He sighed, "Dave what is the difference between pepsi and cola?!"

"Well one's on the top shelf and one's on the bottom. Make a choice Egbert the door's closing." He threatened, slowly inching the hinge across.

"I'll take whichever one's hardest for you to get to." He muttered, as Dave leant down to pick up a pepsi. He almost missed the can as it was tossed with careless precision; at the back of his head. "Thanks for that Dave."

As Dave busied himself with making them a nice Pizza, John kicked back on the sofa, opening the can. He dank the soda, glancing around the room idly as he smelt the pizza in the oven wafting across the room.

Turning his head slightly, his eyes met with a smuppet that had been left on top of the sofa. Caught off guard, John screamed, and in-voluntarily spat out his pepsi; drenching both him and the smuppet.

Hearing the commotion in the living room, Dave leant over the counter to see what was wrong. He was met with a wet and extremely apologetic Egbert, standing next to a soaked smuppet. "I'm sorry Dave, I just got startled and- oh god i'm really sorry!" John was bright red again with embarrassment, and to Dave, that was just adorable.

"Hey it's fine, don't worry about it! I've been wanting to get rid of that one for ages, you did me a favor. Plus this gives you an excuse to take your shirt off." Dave winked at John and walked towards John.

"W-what! I'm not going shirtless! Can I just wear one of yours? We're probably the sameish size anyway." He was deeply uncomfortable with showing his bony body off to Dave. He'd needed to look at an underwear magazine for.. research on media marketing, and had seen MANY of dave's photoshoots. His body was certainly nothing compared to Dave's and he was very self concious about it.

"Well you still gotta be shirtless at one point to put a new one on, it's kind of how things work, so unless you do it, i will do it for you, and that will definitely not be a problem to me, you pick Egbert."

"God Dave, If you give me a shirt I'll go change in the bathroom!" He was getting more and more flustered by the second.

"How is that fair on me? Oh yeah I'll give you my top but I don't get to see you take the wet one off? Good thing you wasn't pantless and spilt it on your white boxers, damn that'd be a site, white wet boxers, may was well be wearing nothing!" Dave chuckled at his own words, grinning over at the smaller male.

"Jesus Dave, I swear to god you're such a pervert! Fine, just gimmie a shirt and I'll change here, but be quick I'm getting sticky!" He was shifting uncomfortably in the damp shirt, not wanting to stay drenched, but not entirely wanting to remove his own top.

Dave nodded and took John's shirt off and throwing it in the wash "Follow me then." Dave took his arm and pulled him along to his room.

John quickly covered his chest as best he could, but his skinny arms were not capable of covering everything. He felt like he was about to die of embarrassment, but felt slightly more comfortable being shirtless around Dave than on his own.

"I never noticed how skinny you were, stop trying to cover yourself, you look great topless, trust me!" Dave walked to his closet and looked for his oldest shirt, and pulled it out, it was still going to be too big for the skinny boy, he turned back to John and admired him topless. "If anything gets spilled on this one, you're spending the rest of your time here naked… Like nothing, even the boxers will be gone!"

"It's getting cold! Stop stalling for your own sick enjoyment and give me a shirt!" John couldn't deny that he felt overjoyed by Dave's compliments, and he even slightly enjoyed the thought of Dave seeing him naked. But of course he was not a Homosexual, he just liked attention from someone else; and he didn't have a huge success rate with women.

Dave tossed across some shirts for John to look through, before stripping his own off and throwing it onto the pile; John none the wiser. Shuffling through continuously ironic t-shirts, he came across one that looked just like Dave's.

John picked it up and began to pull it on, before seeing Dave in the corner of the room, his face plastered with a grin. "Dave is this your shirt!?" John enquired, throwing it back onto the pile.

"Yeah, I knew you'd pick that one." He chuckled, but made no effort to put it back on, showing off his model body to john, acting as though he couldn't care less.

The pair stood still for a while, waiting for one to make a move. Were they both going to just stand shirtless for an eternity, or was one of them going to get dressed? John buckled under the surprisingly tense atmosphere, and grabbed a handmade sweet bro and hella Jeff shirt. Dave did nothing? and stayed topless as he walked casually back into the kitchen; john taking a seat at the counter.

The second he entered, Dave opened the fridge again, and was easily able to grab the ironically placed can of cola from the top shelf. John was once again staring idly at the walls and all of the fireworks in every mug, whilst dave popped the can and edged silently closer to the unsuspecting boy.

"Hey john." He said, grabbing the other's attention. John swung 'round to face Dave, before he felt a sharp cold sting on his chest. Looking up, he saw that Dave had his best poker face on, whilst emptying the entire can onto both John's borrowed shirt, and lap. He squirmed away squealing, Dave used his free hand to hold him in place with impressive strength, pouring more and more onto Egbert, all of his layers becoming drenched with soda yet again.

"Dave what the fuck!? Get off me!" John shouted, as he managed to wiggle free from the Strider's grasp. He found himself standing in a puddle of cola, every layer of clothing soaked through.

"I'm sorry John, I just got startled and- oh god i'm really sorry!" Dave mimicked, failing to suppress a smirk. "Well, i guess you gotta abide by the rules of house Strider. You spill it once, you get a new shirt, you spill it twice, you go butt naked." His face was curled into a grin, but his voice carried a no-nonsense tone.

"Dave you just poured your drink on to me that doesn't count at all you asshole!" He yelled, clearly agitated; but his heart was in his throat.

"Ahem, I said, and i quote 'If anything gets spilled on this one, you're spending the rest of your time here naked… Like nothing, even the boxers will be gone.' I didn't specify that you had to spill it." He sneered, leaning over John with his palms pinning him the counter. "Now it's time to pay up."

"D-dave I can't walk around your house naked! What if your Bro comes home?!" He was, for the fourth time, red as a tomato, and both wanting, and not wanting to be seen naked by his best friend. He was, however, soaking wet, and very uncomfortable.

"Bro's gonna be at an anime convention all day, unless you're staying the night, he won't even know you came round. We live on the top floor, no neighbors are gonna see you. Or at least the bottom half of you." He said, raising his eyebrows and leaning in closer. He quickly slipped his hands under the hem of John's shirt, pulling it upwards sharply. John's glasses were knocked off of his face in the process, clattering on the floor.

Dave swiftly deposited John's shirt onto the counter before pushing away John's hands away so he could take off his pants off, but he was was met with a soft kick to the cheek. "Dave I can do it myself! God, get off me!"

John squirmed away from Dave's hold and slipped off the counter, slightly annoyed and growing increasingly unhappy about his soaked clothing. He placed his hands on his hips, thumbs inside the waistband, but he made no moves to remove them, just standing there; embarrassed as hell.

"Well if you can do it yourself, why was you just sat there? So you're agreeing to getting butt naked, right?"

"Well I don't wanna be standing here in these soaking clothes!? I'm gonna get sticky if I don't get them off! Just turn around or something!" There was an obvious waver in his voice, his tone becoming more high pitched.

"As if I am going to turn around, I wanna see this… Why else did I spill the coke down you?" Dave brought his hands down to John's button on his pants, slowly unbuttoning them and pulled them down to his ankles.

"Nyah, Dave! Is there something you wanna tell me? This doesn't seem like something best friends do…" His voice trailed off, not knowing what to expect as an answer.

"Sure they do, most girls have probably seen their best friends naked, why can't us boys? Plus maybe you haven't taken the hint yet, hello… I'm gay?! I thought that was pretty obvious from the start, why else did I kiss you?"

"I knew you were gay, everyone did!? But what I'm asking is are you gay for me?! I-I'm not really a homo…"

Dave listened to John ramble on about not being a homo once again, but he was only becoming less and less convincing. "Whatever John, you keep telling yourself that, whatever helps you sleep at night i suppose."

"Well I don't even know! Am I gay?! Can you be gay for someone but still call yourself straight?! Thats a thing right!? I can't handle anymore shit at school even with you looking out for me!" He was so conflicted right now, he had no idea what he was thinking, there were too many thoughts flooding his head, but his feelings for Dave were undeniable; no matter what he said to others.

"John, have you ever had a girlfriend? No, have you ever had a crush on a girl? Not that you've told me, be pretty pissed if you didn't tell me. Now have you ever thought about me in a weird way? Or any other boy?" Dave sighed and picked John up with ease, he took him back to his room, grabbing a dressing gown for him.

"Well what if i am, theoretically speaking, gay for you… What would you say, would you feel the same way? Would we be dating?" He choked out the words, too much adrenaline in his system to hold back.

"What do you mean do I feel the same? Is that you admitting to liking me and asking if I felt the same? If so, why else would I be trying to get you naked?"

"Yeah, I guess that's what I'm saying…" His attention once again heading to the damp clothes he was wearing "So, are we taking these off or what?"

"Yeah, sure… There's a dressing gown on the back of my door." Dave felt bad on what he was forcing on John before, he turned away from John and faced the wall so that John had some privacy.

Seeing Dave turn away, John sighed with relief. He quickly dumped his clothes on the floor, before putting on the dressing gown. Dave wasn't looking at John, so he had no indication that John was finished; until he felt a pair of arms around his shoulders in a backwards hug.

Dave flinched slightly at the sudden hug from the other male, but soon relaxed after knowing who it was, he turned around so that Dave was able to hold him closely back. Dave held John from around the waist and slowly leaned back, he fell gently backwards onto the bed with John still in his arms.

He shifted slightly to the side, so that he was lying next to Dave. Dave hadn't let go of John, and the two laid back on the bed, embraced in each other's arms. John nuzzled into Dave's neck, resting his chin on the other boy's shoulder.

"Hmmm, you're so warm Dave" John muttered, hugging him tightly. "So, you like me, and I like you… What does that make us?"

Dave smiled as he kept close to John, his eyes shut. "Anything you'd like it to be… Are you still worried about what people will think about it?"

"Well, yes, a little. But we wouldn't have to tell people straight away, we could just… be like this." He murmured before adding "And we could maybe kiss a little."

"Or a lot!" Dave chuckled and sighed peacefully. "This feels really nice, being here with you."

John closed his own eyes, and relaxed his body, feeling tired and safe in the arms of his- well, boyfriend. He slowly started to drift off, his breathing slowing down until he fell asleep.

Dave could hear the light sounds coming from John, and could tell that he was sleeping. He hoped that the small boy was dreaming of him, he wished he could reach in and join him. Eventually, Dave too, succumbed to the comforting, cozy atmosphere, closing his eyes and falling unconscious.

Feeling tired but satisfied, Dave's Bro swung through the apartment door, loaded with anime gear, and ready to crash out on the pull out sofa.

Bro went to check on Dave quickly, as he did secretly every night, to see two boys Locked together on the bed. He wandered into the room curiously, to see who it was, and found Dave's best friend in a borrowed dressing gown, missing his glasses and smelling faintly of Cola; or was it Pepsi? Dave was sleeping soundly next to him, smiling in his sleep. It was so adorable.

Leaving the boys to go and get his own bed sorted, he began to think. John usually came over for sleepovers, and he usually came home to some unusual things, but these were growing cutely suspicious. John's shirt on the counter, a drenched smuppet, a puddle of cola on the floor. He could only imagine what had happened whilst he was gone, but he liked to think that this time, they weren't sleeping together as friends…


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

Karkat's POV:

Karkat Vantas was your typical introvert, he only left the comfort of his small room to go to work at the small coffee shop in town, and rarely enjoyed the company of others; except for a few people in particular. Karkat wasn't a fan of exercise, and was quite below average height, with the chubbiest little cheeks you could imagine. Karkat never wanted to look threatening, but he hated his face, because when he wanted to make a point no one took him seriously. He hated people pinching his cheeks, but it seemed his best friend Dave Strider, made it his mission to grab them as much as possible. Karkat was very close with Dave, in more ways than one, and though they had kept it behind closed doors, the two were boyfriends.

Karkat threw himself onto his inviting desk chair, logging onto pesterchum. He wanted to see Dave today, he hadn't seem him at all this week, and he knew both of them had no work today and were completely free to hang out. He was feeling surprisingly lonely, and wanted to talk and cuddle with his boyfriend. Karkat tried getting hold of Dave on there but gave up, he guessed that his computer was probably turned off. Knowing Dave wasn't going to come online any time soon, he grabbed his phone and messaged Dave over text message.

CG (Karkat): Hey Dave, you free today? I really need to see you, like, right now.

TG (Dave): Well right now not really. Why do you need to see me anyway?

CG: Well we haven't done anything together in a fucking week. I wanted to just spend some time with you.

TG: Yeah. well me and you get busy a lot I know this is our only day free and im busy but i cant help that! Im really sorry Karkat

CG: Ughhh you're busy?!

TG: Uh… yeah did just say that.

CG: No Dave, what I mean is are you gonna be busy all week? I was hoping we could spend an evening together…

TG: Im realy sorry Karkat,Its work and your work holding us both back. Next week I might be a little less busier, we can have dinner at mine. Anyway i need a shower.

CG: Fine, I'll talk to you later then, but it sucks that we can't meet up. I wanna chill out with you…

TG: Yeah me too. I promise we can next week, i'll make it up to you then. See ya Karcutie 3

CG: I'll make it up to you now 3

Dave's POV:

Dave laid back, feeling incredibly guilty for telling both boy's that he loved them unconditionally. To put it plainly, he was living a double life. He had two boyfriends now, two pieces of his life that fit together to fill his heart. He knew it was unfair on them, if you looked at it one way, it was cheating on both of them, but he meant every word he said. He wasn't lying when he told them that he loved them, and he really did want them to be his boyfriends, but he couldn't pick one over the other. They were both perfect to him, the sweet combination of the two made him feel happier than he'd ever been before, and he wanted it to last; no matter what he had to do. Yes he felt guilty, incredibly guilty, but it was the bitterest, best feeling he'd ever known.

Dave put his phone down beside his bed after the conversation between him and Karkat had finished. He looked down at John and kissed his forehead as he slept, wanting him to stay as calm and peaceful as he looked. Needing to get up, Dave slowly and gently moved out from under John's warm, comforting hold, which made the sleeping male stir a little, but not wake up. Dave tucked John in with his covers, and soon left his own room for a shower, he whistled a random song to himself as he let the water slowly heat up.

He knew Karkat missed him, and he missed him back, but their lives were so similarly laid out, that they only had one time each week where they could be completely alone together, for a whole day. He felt like such a failure being unable to see his boyfriend on their one free day. He loved seeing Karkat each week, they hung out at each others for hours on end, reveling in each others company, playing video games, talking to each other about anything and everything and also doing… other things.

Once the water was at substantial heat, Dave stepped in, trying to relax and just forget about all of the problems that might arise from this "double arrangement". He didn't want to call it cheating, he felt so disgusted with himself when he did, but that was sadly the bottom line of his actions.

Dave was usually able to read people like a book, but by some horrific coincidence , he had missed the underlying theme in Karkat's messages. He was blissfully unaware of what the other boy was planning, and the devastating effect that it would carry. He continued his shower, as his phone vibrated with messages and pictures, left unattended in his room, next to his sleeping boyfriend.

John and Dave's POV:

The room was dimly lit and quiet, the only sound being the running shower from across the hall. John slept peacefully, as he rolled over onto his side. It was coming around to the morning and he was slowly beginning to wake up, when a bright light hit his face, followed by a loud vibrating noise. Startled by the rude awakening, he shut his eyes instinctively and then slowly opened them; adjusting to the light.

He saw that his face was right next to Dave's phone, and that he was getting messages from someone. John could hear that Dave was showering, and without thinking, he opened the chat to see what was going on, thinking he was being helpful. If it was urgent, he could take it to Dave, if not he could tell him when he got back.

The second the chat was opened, John was met with a picture of someone. A very specific picture of someone. His eyes widened, and his first naive thought was that he'd stumbled across Dave's stash. He always figured that Dave had a folder of these things somewhere on his phone, and he almost began crying with laughter.

But then he remembered that this was a picture, a picture from someone, a picture sent to Dave.

Carefully reading the chat log, he felt his heart begin to crumble as he read the sweet, loving messages coming from his boyfriend, but being received by someone else. Analysing the chat, it didn't take him long to realise who the other person was. It was his close friend, Karkat. His eyes began to fly through the messages, stinging with tears as he felt all the happiness, hope and security he had gained, slip through his fingers like precious golden sands on a beach. He saw the things Dave had said to Karkat, they were an echo of their conversation last night. He couldn't contain his tears, and bent over, hugging his knees and crying; feeling like the most useless piece of garbage in the world.

Dave stepped out of the shower few minutes after getting in and wrapped a towel around his waist, he still kept thinking of the conversation between him and Karkat this morning, but also the conversation he had with John too, it was all a mess, but only a mess to Dave, no one else knew so it was fine. As long as Dave was the only one to know. He walked down the hall and back into his room, noticing John was awake. "Did i wake you? I tried my hardest to keep quiet." Dave then noticed the phone in John's hand, he sat on the bed, slightly confused. "John?"

John turned to Dave, staring into his beautiful, crimson eyes. John's face was a portrait of betrayal, rejection and anger, all mixed in with his tear stained face. He said nothing to Dave, and just held the gaze, waiting for the other to come to the bitter realisation of the current situation.

Dave hadn't yet seen the boys face yet, so he didn't really know why John wasn't talking and just sat there holding Dave's phone. Dave laid down next to him, he only then added it together. Dave grabbed his phone to check what Karkat messaged, he groaned and rolled on his side, facing John. "Shit John… I'm so sorry! What i said last night wasn't lies, but what I said to Karkat too… they aren't lies either, you two mean the world to me…"

John took in what Dave was saying, slowly, but the words didn't patch up the emptiness he felt inside. He trusted Dave, and he still did, but his mind was conflicted. Within moments, the overwhelming sadness was replaced gradually with jealousy. He loved Dave and, though it was now jeopardised, Dave loved him. But he felt so inferior to Karkat, Karkat was cute, he listened to others problems, and even when he couldn't make a difference, he always tried; no matter what. Since when was John anything in comparison?

Seeing that John was listening, Dave tried to comfort him as best he could. Striders never cry, but seeing his friends hopes torn apart, he was dangerously close to letting the salty tears of regret flow freely down his face. "I love you so so much John… I love everything about you, I am so sorry for upsetting you this much! But I really like you both, I know it's not very nice of you to hear, but it's true and I will not deny it." Dave felt a tear fall, he knew there was no way John would ever want him back, or ever forgive him.

John turned his head down, letting his eyes rest on Dave's foot. He loved Dave, and it felt so right, but how was this gonna be fixed? He knew what Karkat was like, and although Karkat would probably be more forgiving, John knew that he wouldn't take it lightly either. He wanted to be together with Dave, even if it meant being with Karkat as well. He finally opened his mouth to say something.

"Dave I really like you, and I just wish you'd told me about you and Karkat. Then I would… I could have…" He didn't know what to say. This whole thing had skyrocketed and then dropped so quickly, he just wanted that happy feeling back.

"I knew if I told you from the start, you wouldn't want to be dating me… You would've seen it as me being taken, and then… You wouldn't have admitted your feelings to me. I want to make you and Karkat happy, maybe I should call Karkat?"

John placed his mind into the situation, he wanted to be with Dave and this wasn't something that could sort out itself. Dave was either going to have to pick or they would have to make an arrangement… "You're gonna call Karkat and tell him to come over. You can explain the situation to him and then we can… talk."

"Well if you think that's what will help this whole situation we are in, then yeah. I will call him up and say it's important." Dave unlocked his phone and rang Karkat up, he really wanted this to be sorted, he knew it was going to come out sooner or later, but it was good that it happened as soon as it did. Once Karkat picked up, he didn't say anything more or anything less than to come over as soon as possible.

Karkat's POV:

Karkat didn't know how to feel about the way Dave was texting, it started off differently, but then luckily Dave sent a heart otherwise Karkat would have started to be more suspicious about it, he was already slightly confused with it all, Dave didn't even want to see his own boyfriend, which made Karkat feel worthless, considering today was their day and their day only, he understood that they were very busy quite often, so it made more sense for them seeing each other today. Dave could be doing anything with anyone, and that scared him the most, Karkat wasn't the best of people and always thought Dave deserved someone better, but if Dave actually found someone better and moved on from Karkat so quickly, that'd definitely lower his self confidence even more, losing dave was the last thing Karkat wanted, without Dave he had nothing! Karkat tried not to dwell on it as he didn't want to overthink it and end up thinking the worst of his loyal boyfriend.

After a few minutes of clearing his head from all the negative thoughts of Dave, he knew what would get his boyfriend's attention, he thought about it before taking his phone to his bed, few clicks later he sent the photo to Dave's phone, grinning as he saw the message was read.

CG: See I'm missing you! 3

CG: Please come over… or let me come over.

CG: I never leave you with a boner! It's only fair!

CG: Dave, you there? 3

Karkat started to feel stupid about what he just sent when the messages were just being read and not being replied too. He quickly deleted the photo and the messages from his phone, knowing it wouldn't be removed from Dave's phone, but seeing the messages sat there was all too humiliating for him.

10 minutes passed, and Karkat was curled up on the bed, bawling his eyes out, his phone thrown across the room out of frustration, the screen had a few cracks in it from where he has thrown it at a harder object out of anger. He was a sensitive guy, so being ignored was horrible to him, especially knowing how Dave would normally reply to a photo like that, usually it would be a photo in return or an 'On my way' text. He had his knees tucked to his chest, his face was red from being too warm under the comfort of his blankets. Karkat hated himself for sending the photo, he was more mad with himself but upset with Dave.

After calming himself down, he sat sideways on his bed glaring at his phone. How stupid was he to throw it at the fucking wall like that! He grumbled angrily for a while, before picking it up and checking out the damage. As he held it in his hand, he felt it vibrate. He was getting a call from Dave. Karkat eagerly answered the call, wanting to know what Dave had to say for himself.

He listened, Dave said more or less to just come straight over.

Karkat began to get excited. Maybe Dave really was busy and he'd made time just for him. The impression he got from Dave's tone was no nonsense and dominating, if he was asking Karkat to come over in the middle of the day it could only mean one thing…

He put on his cleanest sweater and practically ran out of the house. His knees were slightly jittery and he found it hard to walk straight without falling over. Passing through a park and down a narrow alley, he reached

Karkat pulled out the spare key we was given to the apartment, a grin still painted on his face, thinking of what him and Dave were going to get up to for the time they had. However, his eyes were still bloodshot from when he was crying before. Karkat let himself inside and slowly looked around for Dave.

"Dave? I'm here!" He called from the hallway, then approached his boyfriend's door, slowly opening it, poking his head around, smiling like a dork, then his face dropped when he saw John Egbert in bed, beside his boyfriend, the suspicious thoughts from earlier flooded back.

"Dave?" Karkat crawled on the bed, he kept his eyes on John the whole time, he held onto Dave's hand tightly, Karkat's hand was so tiny compared to Dave's. He tugged on Dave's arm a little.

"Dave what's going on?" His voice was higher pitched now, his pulse racing as he awaited an explanation. He could see that both boys were sad, and neither were happy with the situation, this made him more uncomfortable, and dreading what was to come. "You gonna answer?"

All Three POV:

Dave tried pulling back from Karkat's hold, trying to not seem like he was picking Karkat over John, he wanted to explain everything as soon as possible, to make sure they both knew. "Karkat, please just listen to me… But let me tell you this now, I love you so much, but I also love John, it's not like me and John have done anything, we only confessed last night, that's all… Us three need to sort this out between us. I'm so sorry for messing this up."

Karkat could tell that Dave was being as kind as possible, but the information was too much to take in at once. His eyes stung at the harsh realisation, and before he could stop it, he was streaming with tears. So Dave had spent their one free day with another person, and now he was in love. "S-so what are you saying!?"

"You know how me and John have been best bros for a while, I've always had feelings for him, but same goes for you… And I can't just pick one of you. You guys mean the world to me." Dave tried his hardest to comfort Karkat, he didn't want to see Karkat crying too. Dave gently wiped Karkat's tears onto his sleeve. Dave wanted Karkat to take it in a good way that Dave couldn't pick between the two boys, but there was no chance of that happening, Karkat just found out he cheated, there's nothing good about that.

John piped up from the side, his face red and puffy. "I felt the same way Karkat, i'm still upset, but… God, I'm angry and hurt too, but you've heard of… What was it?" He turned to Dave, his voice calmer and more understanding than Karkat's but with a slight spitefulness to it.

"polyamorous… " Dave stuttered, bowing his head slightly.

"Yeah that's it, it's when you're equally in love with more than one person, and you'd only be completely happy with the two of them… I'm still mad and heartbroken, but it's not like he's trying to dump us or leave us." John stared Karkat in the eyes, not knowing how to continue, he wanted Karkat to understand; even if he still didn't completely.

"But that means you two will have to be dating too, I think? I really don't want to leave you guys, you mean too much to me for it to all just go away" Dave took hold of Karkat's hand, hoping maybe he'd understand where he was coming from, plus if Karkat wanted to keep his relationship with Dave, this was the only way.

"So, you still love me? In the same way as before?" His voice was calmer, but his tone was wavering. The thought of dating both John and Dave was something new he'd never considered before, but he couldn't deny that, as much as he loved Dave, John hadn't briefly passed through his mind more than once while they were dating.

Dave then took hold of John's hand with his other hand. "That's such a stupid question, of course I do!" Dave chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. Dave kissed Karkat's forehead. "So, is that a yes?"

Karkat sniffled, feeling happier knowing that Dave did still love him, and that he could now try dating John as well. Karkat grabbed John's hand with his free hand, looking them both in the eyes. Despite the crying and sadness, it was clear to see that Dave was so happy. Of course Dave still felt like the scum of the earth for lying to them, but he could be with them both now, the two pieces of his world coming together. If that was what being scum was like, he happily accepted the position.

"How about a make up kiss?" Dave asked, holding both their gazes. Almost synchronised, the boys leaned in and kissed Dave together, before leaning back to their original position. John and Karkat locked eyes, and they were thinking exactly the same. Once again, the two leaned in, but shared a kiss with each other, feeling a sense of comfort and security in their triangle of love.

"Now that's what I like to see."


End file.
